Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help create high quality policing teams that build strong relationships with the local communities they serve.

It is an operational matter for the Chief Constables of each police force to consider how best to meet the needs of, and engage with, local communities, based on their local knowledge and expertise. Police and Crime Commissioners also have a responsibility, as outlined in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, to hold Chief Constables to account for how they engage with local communities and deliver on the local police and crime plan.

The 20,000 police officer uplift is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to support all forces become more representative of the communities they serve.

As at 30 September 2022, 15,343 additional officers have been recruited across England and Wales, 77% of the target of 20,000 additional officers by March 2023. Since April 2020, more than four in ten new recruits (42.5%) were female and for the first time there are now over 50,000 female police officers in England and Wales. Over the same period 11.4% of recruits (who stated their ethnicity) identified as ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) an increase on 10.3% in the year to March 2019.